• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

Marquette University e-Publications@Marquette Philosophy Faculty Research and Publications Philosophy, Department of 1-1-2013 Social Contract: Rebellion and Dissent Aboard Serenity Susanne Foster Marquette University, [email protected] James B. South Marquette University, [email protected] Published version. "Social Contract: Rebellion and Dissent Aboard Serenity," in Homer Simpson Ponders Politics: Popular Culture as Political Theory. Eds. Joseph J. Foy and Timothy M. Dale. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2013: 63-74. Publisher Link. © 2013 University Press of Kentucky. Used with permission. , 4 SOCIAL CONTRACT Rebellion and Dissent aboard Serenity Susanne E. Foster and James B. South The major plot of Serenity, the companion movie to Joss Whedon's TV series Firefly, pits the crew of the spaceship Serenity against their interplanetary government, the Alliance. River Tam (Summer Glau), a member of the crew who begins as a stowaway, was severely damaged while at an Alliance school for "gifted" individuals. I By the time the movie opens, River's brokenness and the Alliance's persistent attempts to find her lead the captain and crew to believe she is a threat to their safety. While attempting to discover what happened to River and why the Alliance is so desperate to recover her, the crew learn that an Alliance experiment in controlling human aggression annihilated the population of the planet Miranda and created the Reavers, a group ofhyperviolent individuals. MAL. I know the secret now. The truth that burned up River Tam's brain and set you after her. And the rest of the 'verse is gonna know it too. 'Cause they need to. THE OPERATIVE. You really believe that? MAL. I do. THE OPERATIVE. You willing to die for that belief? MAL. I am. Of course, that ain't exactly Plan A. In this scene, which occurs late in Serenity, we see Malcolm ("Mal") Reyn­ olds (Nathan Fillion), the captain of the spaceship Serenity. expressing the reasons why he finds himself at odds with his interplanetary government. 63 64 Susanne E. Foster and James B. South the Alliance. Over the course of the series Firefly and its sequel movie Serenity. the Alliance has been shown to be systematically keeping secrets from its citizens and to have policies that lead the government to sacrifice members of the community in pursuit of some greater good. By contrast, the relationship that develops between Mal and the crew of Serenity is one in which each individual is kept informed of the plans, and reasons for the plans, of the group, and in which those plans are never predicated on sac­ rificing any member of the crew for the good of the others. One especially salient feature that emerges from the interactions of the crew members is that they demand compliance with the rules that keep everyone safe while not judging one another's motives and actions as long as crew members stay within these boundaries. At the beginning of the series, Mal and his crew are rebelling against their interplanetary government, attempting to avoid interaction with or depen­ dence upon the Alliance. But as the series progresses, the crew of Serenity moves from rebellion to dissent, working to hold the Alliance accountable for its decisions and to force it to change its policies and actions. The com­ plex story of the community that develops among the crew of Serenity and their changing relationship to their government can best be understood by exploring the meaning of the term consent within the framework of "social contract theory,"2both in the classical sense, expounded by John Locke, and in the development of the view found in the writings of the contemporary philosopher Stanley Cavell, who points out succinctly that "the force of the idea of a social contract is to put the advantage of a society, as it stands, in question.") Rebellion and Marginalization The series beginS a few years after a civil war between the Alliance and a rebel group called the Resistance. A member of the Resistance, Mal was present at the Battle of Serenity Valley, where the Resistance was defeated. His decision to name his ship Serenity and his penchant for picking battles each year on the anniversary of that defeat demonstrate his deep anger and inability to let go of the war. As captain he gathers to himself other individu­ als who are marginalized by or rebelling against the Alliance government. His own continuing rebellion against the Alliance is further demonstrated by his decision to make a living for himself and his crew by engaging in illegal activities, thereby depriving himself and his crew of the protection Social Contract 65 the Alliance could provide them and forcing them to hide from the threat of violence from the Alliance itself. We contend that Mal's relationship to the Alliance consists of an attempt to withdraw consent from the social contract. Locke claimed that citizens enter into a social contract in order to protect their property and the rights that flow from it. In entering into the contract, citizens consent to be gov­ erned, that is, they give up some autonomy and freedom in exchange for a, social world in which they can flourish, while being cognizant of the kinds of behavior and practices that are now off-limits to them.4 Mal's rebellion as captain of Serenity may well strike us as juvenile, a mere thumbing of his nose at the government that defeated the Resistance. After all, Mal is now living a life in which he barely scrapes by, often short of fuel and parts for his ship as well as food and provisions for his crew. Moreover, he continually puts his crew at risk while engaging in illegal activities. It is worth noting that, ironically, even to the degree that Mal is able to make do in his rebel­ lious activities, he is nonetheless parasitic upon the good functioning of the social contract. One can become an outsider only by leaving the inside intact. Furthermore, the community on board the ship presupposes the language and social customs of the wider community.s In short, it seems that despite his attempts at rebellion, Mal is still a member of the Alliance community to the extent that he relies on the good functioning of the Alliance to make his own living pOSSible. Some social-contract theorists at this point invoke Locke's term tacit con­ sent to describe how it is that consent has been given when "few people have actually consented to their governments so no, or almost no, governments are actually legitimate."6 On this interpretation, Mal's use of Alliance-backed currency and goods such as produce and Alliance-developed technol­ ogy might seem analogous to Locke's example of the tourist who uses the roadways of another country and thereby agrees to abide by the laws of the state? The problem for the social-contract theorist who wants to make this move is that Locke's use of the concept is restricted to aliens present within a state; he nowhere makes the claim that tacit consent provides for genuine membership in a political community. Indeed, as Cavell notes, even in the sections where Locke brings up the notion of tacit consent, "he reiterates his contention that membership in the polis requires express consent."8 So, we are left with three questions: What is required before one can be said to have given express consent? What would be required to withdraw that consent? and What would legitimate the withdrawal? 66 Susanne E. Foster and James B. South Cavell's insight is that express consent is best understood in light of an adequate account of withdrawal of consent. In what follows, we will discuss in some detail the ways in which Mal and the other crew members seem to have withdrawn consent. But we will show, drawing on Locke's work, that they do not manage to actually withdraw consent. The crew's initial response to the Alliance does not rise above acting out in a juvenile and rebellious .manner. Locke foresaw rebellious reactions such as Mal's, but he argued that they were fruitless insofar as they would fail to effect social change: "The examples of particular injustice, or oppression of here and there an unfortunate man, moves them [the mass of citizens 1 not." And so, Locke concludes, "Nor let anyone say, that mischief can arise from hence, as often as it shall please a busy head, or turbulent spirit, to desire the alteration of the governrnenf'9 . Mal's crew consists of those who find themselves actively harmed by their government, or marginalized, or simply forgotten-as can happen in any society. These crew members, then, represent concretely those whom Cavell describes as subject to "specific inequalities, and lacks of freedom, and absence of fraternity."lo So, for example, Jayne Cobb (Adam Baldwin) starts out as a member of a group of bandits threatening Mal and the crew. When Mal points out to him that he will benefit financially if he switches sides, Jayne ends up fighting against his erstwhile companions on behalf of Mal ("Out of Gas").ll Just as Jayne was a mercenary before, he is now clearly in a kind of mercenary relationship with Mal. It is always an open question whether someone will make him a better offer and give him a fi­ nancial reason to turn on Mal and his crew. So Mal's agreement with Jayne is a strictly financial one. Inara Serra (Morena Baccarin) holds the position of a Companion, a profession akin to a legalized form of "prostitution" that involves a set of cultured, intellectual, and social functions similar to the Japanese notion of a geisha.

Load more

  13

Copy Link